Macron’s party wins majority in parliamentary polls

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party scored a decisive victory after the second round of parliamentary elections, the Interior Ministry announced. With 97 per cent of the votes counted by Sunday night, Macron’s La Republique En Marche (LREM) party won 300 seats in the 577 National Assembly.

Its political ally, the Mouvement Democrate (MoDem) won 41 seats in the polls held earlier on Sunday, reports CNN. Former presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front won only eight seats.

She won a seat in parliament for the first time, representing Henin-Beaumont, a former mining town in the north, reports the BBC. The Socialists, who were in power for the past five years, alongside their partners, looked set to get only 41-49 seats – their lowest tally ever.

Macron’s party, founded just a year ago, also won the first round of elections on June 11 with less than half of eligible voters going to the polls. Sunday’s polls were again marked by weak voter turnout. Nationwide, it stood at just over 35 per cent, CNN reported.

Macron won the French presidency last month without the support of a traditional mainstream party, as his newly minted “En Marche!” movement helped carry him to a convincing election victory over Le Pen. The interim LREM leader, Catherine Barbaroux, said the party could now start work towards changing France.

“Far from postures, our members of parliament, through their multiple experiences, will vote for laws to unlock our economy, free up our energies, create new solidarities and protect the French,” she told the BBC. According to France’s BFMTV, more than 1,000 candidates ran in Sunday’s elections.